Snapple!
by water lily in clearwater
Summary: Snape is not somebody to fall in love, but does that mean it never happens? And who will be the lucky (or not so lucky) one? Warning: spoiler for PoA I don't know wether to keep it one-shot or upload a second chapter, so please help me with that. Oh, and by the way, Snape may seem a little bit ooc to you, or a little bit much hehehehe
1. Honeycrisp

**Disclaimer:** Sadly, I don't own Harry Potter =(

Author's note: This was just an idea in my head, and I had to get it out. There was no one to share it with except for you guys. Sorry for bothering you. As you're already wasting your time reading this, spend a minute more on a review, please? Anyways, enjoy =)

It was way to early on a Monday morning when Snape had to get out of bed. 'Ugh, I hate Monday mornings' he mumbled to himself. He came down for breakfast, with the same look on his face as always. When he really had to get down to his classroom, he went back to dungeons.

As soon as he entered the room, silence fell, and all the gryffindor and hufflepuff first-years looked up at him. Was it just his imagination, or was there something different in the way they did it?

He soon discovered the answer when a boy from gryffindor asked: 'Is it true that you're in love, professor?'

The class burst out giggling, and Snape answered, in his silkiest voice, that made shivers run down the students' spines: 'Now, tell me, Mr. Parker, where on earth would you get an idea like that, and even believe it's true?'

Thomas Parker was looking terrified now, and his friend Anna Brown, who sat next to him, decided to help him out. 'Then what about the apple, professor?' He asked, and he knew he had hit a nerve immediately, for Snape now moved to him, looking madder than anyone had ever seen him.

'Enough!' he bellowed, 'Detention, both of you!'

All the while he was thinking: 'No, this, can't be true, how on earth have they found out?'

_-flashback- _

_It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon and the sun shone brightly outside. Snape, of course, wasn't enjoying it. He was in his office, because he had to make the wolfsbane potion for the werewolf. He walked over to gather his ingredients to start, when he saw it. _

_An apple._

_Not just an apple, but a honeycrisp. The best he had ever seen. Its skin was perfect, and was a beautiful pinkish red colour, and it looked delicious. But it would be such a shame if it would be eaten. It was way too beautiful for that. _

_Then Snape shook his head. Apples are never too beautiful to be eaten, they're apples. They look tasteful or, most of the time, not so much. But apples weren't beautiful, they were apples._

_Nevertheless, he didn't eat the apple, he put it on his desk, and continued with the potion. _

_It took him a few hours to make the potion, all it had to do now was simmer, before he could add more ingredients. 'Ugh, why does that potion take so long?'_

_When he walked over to the desk, he saw the apple still lying there. It caught a ray of sunlight, which caused it to glow, and look like it had a halo. Snape stared at it, transfixed. Without knowing it, he took a step closer, and another one, and another. He stretched out his hand, and when he touched the skin, it felt soft, and almost warm, almost pulsating, as if it was really alive. He caressed the apple, and then picked it up, and brought it to his mouth. As soon as his lips touched it, he thought: 'It tastes so sweet, is this what it feels like to kiss somebody?'But he knew, deep in his heart, that kissing anybody, could never be as delicious, as sweet, as this. He closed his eyes, and licked the apple. Then he gently put it back on his desk, and yawned. He looked at the clock, it was already 11 o'clock! Deciding it was time to sleep, he put out all the lights, and went to bed._

_- end flashback-_

The bell ringed, and Snape looked up. He hadn't thought about the fact that he was still in class. The students got up to leave but he held them back.

'For next lesson, you will write me an essay about how to make a cure for boils, which we will be making next lesson. Anyone who doesn't have it, has the change to be used as a guinea pig.'

In the mean time, Anna and Thomas were already trying to get away as soon as possible, but stopped as soon as they heard his voice, which was full of some suppressed emotion: 'Parker, Brown, we need to arrange your detentions.'

They looked at each other and thought: 'Oh God, we're in trouble.'

I hope you enjoyed, and please, make the button feel useful, and review! *hopes*


	2. A (not so) normal day at Hogwarts

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own Snape, or anything else in the Harry Potter world, but I do own an apple :p And I came up with Anna and Thomas myself =)

Authors note: Lots of thanks to BinominalNomenclature for reviewing =) And also I love Neville, I think he's very brave, he just needs somebody to tell him that.

Well second chap then...

Snape looked at the two children standing before him, their faces trying to hide their fear. They knew they had gone too far, but also that it was true. But that was ridiculous. Who on earth would fall in love with an apple?

'Tell me, what was the reason behind your foolish attempt at a joke?' Snape said, his voice soft and dangerous.

'Well, err...' Thomas stuttered, going red. Why exactly had he done it?

'You two will be in my office, tonight at precisely 8 o'clock. Don't you dare being late. Now go.'

Thomas and Anna didn't need to be told twice. They got their bags and walked out of the classroom as quickly as possible, without it being notice by Snape. Once safely out of sight, they broke out at a run. They didn't stop until they reached the transfiguration classroom.

'Mr Parker, Miss Brown, please explain to me why you're late?' professor McGonagall asked as soon as they entered.

'I'm sorry, professor, but Snape gave us detention.' Thomas answered.

Still a bit shaken, he sat down at his seat in the back of the classroom. Anna sat down next to him.

'It's _professor_ Snape,' McGonagall corrected him sternly, 'and may I ask you why he gave you detention?'

'Well, we asked him something about an apple.' Anna said.

A look of surprise crossed McGonagall's face, but it was gone before she could be sure.

At the same time, in the dungeons, Snape was telling poor Neville off, because his potion, which was supposed to be a bright, acid green turned ...

'Orange, Longbottom. Tell me, why are you still going to Potions? It doesn't seem like you learn anything. 10 points from gryffindor, and try again.'

Snape waved his wand over the cauldron, and the contents vanished.

'Unfortunately, there is not enough time left to start over, so you will be making a new shrinking solution in my office, tonight, at 7:30. Now clean up your stuff, and disappear from my sight. Don't ruin any other potions on your way.'

Malfoy was sniggering, and Parkinson didn't even try to hide her fun. Hermione was looking very upset, not understanding why he did this. True, he was Snape, but worse than ever.

Harry and Ron were standing with their fists clenched, their faces red with anger. Ron opened his mouth to shout something at his hated Potions professor, but closed his mouth when he saw Hermione's face.

Harry, on the other hand, couldn't see her face and started to argue, but was silenced by Ron kicking his shin. Lucky for him, Snape didn't notice it.

Neville, on the other hand, looked terrified. He was trembling from head to toe, and kept staring at his now empty cauldron.

'Didn't you hear me Longbottom? Get out!' Snape spat. Neville started moving as abruptly as if somebody pushed on the on-button. He gathered all his stuff, but his hands were shaking so badly that he dropped his knife multiple times, which, for as far as possible, irritated Snape even more.  
Neville stormed out of the potions classroom, silent tears trickling down his face. What if his grandmother heard of this? He would definitely get another Howler. He was now also dreading tonight, when he had to get back to his office.

The bell rang, and the halls started to fill with students and noise again. Neville tried his best to hide his tear-stained face.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around, and looked into the compassionate face of Hermione.

'You shouldn't let him get you down too much, he just isn't himself today, he's even worse than normal. I'll talk to professor McGonagall about this, he just can't do this. And by the way, Smile a bit more. It's just Snape. You're worth ten of him.'

At that, Neville's face lit up a bit.

'Really?' he asked, his face hopeful.

'Really.' Hermione confirmed, her face set.

'It's lunch now, so shall we go?'

Neville nodded, feeling considerably happier than before.

Professor McGonagall sat in her office, when she heard a knock.

'Come in,' she replied.

She looked up, and saw Hermione and Neville enter. She raised an eyebrow, and said: 'I'd be coming down for lunch any moment, couldn't it wait?'

'No, you see professor, our problem is professor Snape.' Hermione answered earnestly.

'And what about professor Snape exactly, miss Granger?'

'Well, he isn't himself. He just gave Neville detention because something was wrong with his potion, but I could easily have helped him. No he's got to make the potion tonight again, until he does it right. It's just not fair!' Hermione said.

'I'll talk to Severus, and see what I can do for you,' she said, with a look at Neville. 'Now, kindly go down to dinner for me.'

Professor McGonagall watched the children leave, and couldn't help but thinking to herself that something really had to be wrong with Severus.

Meanwhile, in the dungeons, Snape had decided to skip lunch. He walked to his office, and saw the apple, still lying on his desk, as beautiful as ever. He thought: 'Is this really why I'm so ... _emotional_ these days?' He was surprised to think of himself as emotional, but for no reason, all right, for just an apple, he felt like his emotions didn't stop doing loopings, from happy to sad to angry and back again. He looked back at the apple, and he felt an odd sensation in the region of his stomach. He mentally cursed himself for calling it just an apple, and then for being stupid, because apples don't hear thoughts, they don't hear at all.

He walked over to the apple, and picked it up. It's skin still felt still so soft and smooth beneath his fingers, and he had to resist the urge to kiss it again. He looked over his shoulder, to make sure no one was there, and caressed the skin of the apple with his thumb. The feeling of its skin beneath his thumb was awesome, and Snape got into a sort of trance. It was just him and the apple now. The bell rang, and Snape's head snapped up. Had that much time passed already? He hadn't even eaten a thing. All he had done was just trace circles with his finger over the apple.

He quickly summoned some food and ate it, before walking the few metres to the potions classroom.

When he entered the room, the fifth year hufflepuffs and ravenclaws were already waiting for him. He told them what they had to now before starting their potion, and then sank down in his chair, thinking about what punishment he had to give to Brown and Parker, were they to come to his office that night.

He wanted them in his office, so he could keep an eye on them. He couldn't make them write lines, it had to be a little more original and less boring. Then it hit him: he would make them clean his office, without magic. That way, he could control them, they would be punished _and_ he would have a clean office. He would have to hide miss Apple, otherwise they would definitely know it for sure. Even though it was not true. He wasn't in love with his miss Apple, oh wait what, _his miss Apple?_ An apple of course. Just an apple. But Snape couldn't help but feeling that it wasn't just an apple, it was way more special than that.

He gave the fifth years homework, now feeling thoroughly confused.

I hope you liked it, please review =)


	3. Detention with Snape

**Disclaimer:** I'm still not J.K., so stop going on about it

Authors note: Thanks again to BinominalNomenclature for reviewing, and to give answer to your question, I didn't mean the apple as a metaphor, (but bats do eat apples sometimes) but if you want to think of it as one, feel free =) and I'm really trying to make longer chapters, really...

In the gryffindor common room, the rumours about Snape spread rapidly. It didn't take long before the whole house knew it. Neville, Anna and Thomas were sitting in a corner, talking about what they were going to do.

Anna asked: 'What do you think he's going to make us do?'

Thomas scoffed 'I don't think it's going to be something good, mind you, it is Snape.'

'I know what I'm going to do. I have to make a shrinking solution, and make sure it's perfect, otherwise I'll have to start again.' Neville looked now extremely anxious. 'I'll probably have to go on till tomorrow, I'm never going to make it anything near perfect.' He sighed.

Then Thomas looked up at Neville, beaming.

'What makes you so happy?'The round-faced boy asked suspiciously.

'I've got it!' Thomas exclaimed. Hermione shot an irritated look his way, for she was making homework, again.

'What?' Anna asked with a hushed voice, looking excited. The blond girl looked at her friend expectantly.

Thomas explains: 'We'll just have to find his apple, you know, the one he's in love with, and then we'll add a bit of shrinking solution to it. But how're we going to do it?'

Before Anna could answer, Neville said: 'Look, I've got to go, otherwise I'll be late, and I don't want to know what he'll do when I am.' He shuddered, and then said of trough the portrait hole and down towards the dungeon.

When Neville was almost there, he realised he'd forgotten his cauldron and book, and head to go back up. When he finally reached the dungeon, and knocked on the door, he was one minute late.

'Come in' the voice of Severus Snape reached Neville's ears. It didn't promise anything good. Just stick to the plan he told himself.

'Longbottom, haven't I told you not to be late.' Snape asked, his black eyes glittering maliciously.

Y-Yes, s-s-sir, b-but I left my book upstairs, and I had to go back and -'

'Keep your excuses to yourself, Longbottom, and start.'

'Yes, sir.'

Neville unpacked his stuff, and started to make his potion, like Hermione told him to. Nothing went wrong, until ...

The clock chimed 8 o'clock, and at that exact moment, Anna and Thomas knocked on the door. Neville, who was now nearly finished with his potion, looked up, and the three kids shared a grin, which went unnoticed by Snape.

'Finally. You two can start to clean my office, _without magic._ And don't break anything, or...'

Snap said briskly to the two first years, drawing up some buckets with warm water and soap as he spoke.

Anna and Thomas silently started their job, and Snape started reading a book. Nobody spoke anymore, but if Snape had looked up from his book, he would have noticed the students looking around for a certain apple.

When Neville's potion was done, he didn't say anything at first. He secretly signed Thomas, and handed a bit of the shrinking solution to him. Then he said to Snape that his potion was ready, and Snape walked over. His face turned sour when he couldn't find anything to criticise, and said quietly to Neville: 'You are excused, Longbottom.'

Neville slowly gathered his stuff, his eyes searching for the apple. Snape had started reading his book again. Then he thought: ' If Snape knew we knew about the apple, he would hide it. But where?'

To get the answer, he had to think like Snape, but how could he think like somebody that loved nobody except for an apple?

Where would he hide something that meant a lot to him? The answer was simple, in his night table. But how could they get to Snape's without him noticing? Then he suddenly came up with something. He whispered to Anna: 'I think the apple's in his night table.' Anna nodded, but kept looking at her hands. She and Thomas were still 'cleaning', and they didn't want Snape to know that what they were actually doing was looking for his precious apple. Neville then pushed over all his stuff, and Snape looked up irritably.

'Still here, Longbottom? Ugh, you're so clumsy, I wonder how it is that you haven't managed to fall down the stairs and land in the hospital wing. At least it would give me a few lessons without you.'

Snape came swishing down on Neville, his black robes billowing behind him like a pair of bat wings, hiding Anna and Thomas from sight. They were now trying to break in to Snape's private chambers, but Snape looked like he was about to turn around any moment.

Neville swallowed hard, which was much to Snape's pleasure, but then he said: 'Well, it appears I'm not that clumsy then, am I?'

Snape looked intently into Neville's eyes, and Neville tried hard not to blink, just like with the hippogriff (which didn't go that well). Finally, Snape said, his face full of disgust: 'Small, clumsy Longbottom, finally trying to live up to his house's reputation, and be brave. Well Longbottom, your 'bravery' just managed to get you another detention . You'll be in my office, same -' But what exactly was going to be the same, they'd never found out, because Anna and Thomas had found the apple, and came hurrying back, but knocked over one of Snape's jars on the way. Snape turned around swiftly, and saw the two kids with his precious miss Apple in their hands.

His face showed an expression, which was hard to recognise on his features. It was fear. Fear, for his miss Apple to be hurt, for his secret to come out, for everything. He brought a hand up to his face, and noticed, to his own astonishment, that his eyes were wet. He was _crying_!

He, Snape, the one who never showed any emotion.

Thomas and Anna looked guilty, and Thomas quickly got the shrinking solution and poured it over the apple. The apple turned back into blossom, the once beautiful reddish pink colour faded to a near white one.

Snape dropped to his knees, now sobbing openly. The three students looked at each other uncomfortably. They expected him to get extremely angry, and send them out, which would have meant their detention was over. Nobody expected this, however. Their most hated teacher, on his knees, sobbing, begging for a flower.

Neville was the first to do something. He walked over to the broken man, and put a hand on his shoulder. Snape looked to him, and grabbed him with his robes. He then pulled the very confused and a bit shaken student to his chest, and started sobbing on his shoulder.

'Please, please give me back, g-give me back my ... my' he kept stuttering.

Neville had no idea what to do, and his shoulder was now wet with Snape's tears. Thomas now walked over too, shyly, and Anna followed. Thomas offered his crying professor the flower, and Snape took it carefully. He put the flower in a bit of water, added some of a clear blue potion, and said 'thanks' to the boy. This surprised Thomas even more, but he still kept his mouth shut.

Neville, Thomas and Anna stood their awkwardly, wondering whether this meant that they were excused or not. After a while, Snape seemed to remember that they were still there, and told them to go. Anna, Thomas and Neville then left the office as fast as they could, now wondering why they had done it and why it ever had seemed a good idea. They were also thinking about the changes that professor Snape had gone through. Did that mean that he had really cared for the apple? Still consumed in their own thoughts, the trio reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, said the password, and went to bed, feeling as if they were confounded.

Thanks for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it and please, review. I was planning to do just one more chapter.


	4. The end

**Disclaimer: **I just own the plotline, and Anna and Thomas, nothing more. Not even an apple anymore =(

Authors note: Thanks again to BinominalNomenclature for reviewing, and sorry to let you wait. Don't wait any longer, dig in! ( Yeah I know this isn't food, I just wanted to say it, and you're probably not even reading this anymore, and if you are, you probably didn't have to wait long enough) So this is probably going to be the last chapter, enjoy =)

The next day, Snape stood up earlier than normal. He quickly walked over to his desk, and found the flower still lying there. He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. He watched the flower for a while, a small smile starting to form on his face.

When it was time to go down for breakfast, he reluctantly left his flower. When he was down, he saw professor McGonagall was already there. He sat down next to her, while helping himself to some toast. McGonagall looked up and asked: 'Are you sure you're feeling well? Normally you don't eat that much.'

She expected him to make a snide comment, because of everything she had heard from her students the other day. But, he said: 'Yes, I'm feeling particularly well actually, thank you. And how are you?'

She had no idea how to react. Was this really Severus? Instead of showing this she decided it was a good moment to ask about the complaints of her students yesterday.

'Yes, I'm fine,' she replied, 'but unfortunately I cannot say the same for everyone.'

'Is there something wrong? With whom?' Severus asked, and McGonagall couldn't help but notice that his face really showed concern.

'A couple of my students came to me yesterday, with some really strange stories. That you vanished someone's potion without reason, or gave someone detention for making a comment about an apple.' She was really curious how he would react, this Severus that really showed emotions.

'Ah yes, that was my fault. I'll talk to them myself about it, if you don't mind.' He said, and the corners of his mouth moved upwards a bit.

Professor McGonagall now really started to worry about him, and she had the urge to shake him by his shoulder and ask who he was and what he had done to Severus. She didn't do it however, she kind of liked the change.

They talked about random other subjects, and for the first time ever in her life, Minerva McGonagall thought of Severus as good company.

Next Monday, Anna and Thomas were dreading Potions.

'Nice start of the week we have, haven't we, An?' Thomas asked, when they were walking down to potions together.

'Yeah,' she replied, 'whose idea was it to give us potions on Monday morning? I really want to hurt that person, badly!' she said, looking downcast.

'Oh come on, you know you couldn't. Your way to nice for that.' Thomas joked, playfully punching his friend on the shoulder.

'Yeah, Right.'

When they reached the dungeons, a queue had already formed for the classroom. Then Snape came, his black robes billowing behind him like they always did. The class entered the room, and sat down where they usually did. When Snape addressed the class, however, it was nowhere near usual. He actually sounded _nice_! _Snape_! He helped the students whenever they needed help, every student, not just the slytherins, and didn't criticise them with everything that went wrong. At the end of the lesson, he even gave them less homework to do then normally! Okay, they still had homework to do, but it wasn't much, especially not compared to transfiguration.

The class left potions feeling surprised, and rumours were already spreading. Most of the people remembered Snape's reaction when asked whether he was in love or not, and were now definitely convinced that he was. But the question was of course: with whom?

Just when Anna and Thomas were about to head for transfiguration, Snape called them back. Thomas and Anna certainly didn't walk about last time they had met, and hoped that Snape felt the same way.

'You didn't tell anyone, I hope?' Snape asked. Anna and Thomas didn't know how fast they could say no.

'Good, but I need to ask you one more question before you go.' He said, when Thomas and Anna turned to leave, and some of the third-years were already filing up outside the classroom.

'How did you find out?'

This was the question they had been dreading, ever since they had said it. Oh god, this was going to be a long day.

Back in the common room, Neville was trying to make his DADA essay about vampires, but had no idea how to use garlic, and chose to ask Hermione. He walked over to the corner where she sat, and as always, her books covered several tables. She was also busy with the vampire essay, so he was lucky.

'Hey Hermione,' he started, but she wasn't too keen on company right then.

'What?' she snapped, immediately regretting it.

'Do you mind if I sit down?' Neville asked.

'No, of course not.' She replied. 'What are you doing?'

'I was trying to make my vampire essay, but I don't get the garlic part.'

'Oh, that's easy, there are four different ways to use it. You can make them eat it, or burn it, so they can't come through the smoke, or just keep it with you, raw, and they won't come near you, or boil it with basil and parsley, and they won't be able to touch that, it burns them. Do you get it?'

'Er ..., yeah I think so. But can you repeat it?'

And so Hermione did, and Neville ended up having the highest grade yet in all time, except for herbology. They made homework together more often after that, and Neville got better in all his courses quite fast. He also was more self-assure, and braver, ever since his encounter with Snape. Two years later, Neville and Hermione were the cutest couple in Hogwarts.

For Anna and Thomas, they had to explain something to Snape before they were two years older. At the end of potions they had said that they really had to go to transfiguration, but they were now really nervous about tonight.

When they were done with their homework, they started the walk down to the dungeons, taking as much time as they could. Reaching Snape's office, neither Thomas nor Anna wanted to knock. They didn't have to however. Before they had decided who was going to knock, Snape had already opened the door, and ushered them inside. He told them to sit down on two chairs, facing his desk. Snape himself sat down opposite them, on the only remaining chair.

'Is there something you would like to tell me?' Snape asked, sounding a bit more like himself than he did that morning. Thomas and Anna didn't want to tell him anything, but knew they had to at some point. So Thomas started his story:

'Well, you see, some people in Gryffindor have divination...'

'That's where you can predict the future' Anna explained, but for some reason she reckoned that Snape already knew that.

'And, well, someone saw you kissing an apple, while looking really strange...'

'You know, like I'm-in-love-so-I-act-weird strange. And well, we just had to know.'

'So that's why we asked. We actually expected it to be a joke.'

'But we figured out it was the truth, it had to be, because you were really err,'

'Acting strange' Thomas finished his story.

Snape was looking from one to the other, trying to let it all sink in. He had to talk to Sybil, but not now.

'And can I ask you who saw it? And when?'

'We first heard about it on Friday,' Anna said, 'and we have no idea who said it. We just heard it from someone who heard it from another and so on.'

A long moment went, in which no one said something, until-

'Very well, you are excused.' Snape finally said.

Anna and Thomas were glad to leave, and wondered why he didn't ask further, why he hadn't known that they lied about not knowing who saw it. But they could never betray Neville, not now he had managed to change Snape in a positive way, afraid that he might fall back on bullying Neville again. Neville was their silently worshipped hero, because he had done the impossible. He had made Snape smile.

Thanks a lot for reading, and if you liked it (or didn't or feel neutral, or love chocolate) please review! If you want another story with Anna and/or Thomas, or a Hermione/ Neville story, or another story at all, feel free to pm me, or leave a review. Yes, I take (most) challenges!


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